United Poultry Concerns - [link removed]
26 March 2020

Book Review:
Voices For Animal Liberation: Inspirational Accounts By Animal Rights Activists

By Brittany Michelson with Foreword by Ingrid Newkirk,
Founder and President of PETA

Review by Karen Davis, PhD, President of United Poultry Concerns

This 2020 book, by Skyhorse Publishing, includes color photos and bios of each
contributor including color photos of animals by story contributor Jo-Anne
McArthur, founder of We Animals Media.


Anyone familiar with the obstacles to obtaining and maintaining justice for
marginalized human groups in mainstream society cannot be surprised at the
difficulty of obtaining justice for other animal species. Contributors to this
anthology recall moments of awakening to the reality of animals' lives that
immediately or eventually turned them into animal rights activists. Such moments
range from coming face to face with a suffering, terrified dairy cow so intense
that "at that moment I decided I had to do something," to future activist Zafir
Molina being told sarcastically by her father that she was eating the baby goat
she had spent time with the day before. "Yet I continued to eat the flesh."

Voices For Animal Liberation presents autobiographical stories of how personal
trauma, depression, distress, dysfunction, and in some cases food and drug
addictions, foster insight into the trauma of animals trapped in human systems
of abuse. Actor and filmmaker Chase Avior writes, for example: "Having been
subjected to bullying, I know the feeling of being scared and defenseless, and I
see the same terror in the eyes of every animal headed to the slaughterhouse."

Army veteran Jasmine Afshar describes how the desperation of trapped pigs she
observed "to seek safety reminded me of some traumatic moments in my own past."

Whether animal liberation is "on the horizon" or an ever-elusive aspiration
fortified by shaky victories, the takeaway is that the liberation of oneself and
of animals is a work in progress for activists determined to exemplify and
deliver our "fragile message to the masses." Many, including your friends, will
dismiss you no matter how you speak about animals and veganism. They will accuse
you, says JaneUnchained News journalist Dani Rukin, of "flaunting your
lifestyle." Olympic medalist Dotsie Bausch, founder of Switch4Good, is taunted
by her cyclist coaches for her "plant-based BS." She tells them: "I don't care
if I fade away on this diet . . . and for once in my life I am going to stand up
for what's right."


Promoting the Vegan Message

Contributors proclaim the vegan message with respect to food and more broadly as
an all-encompassing philosophy of compassion for all forms of sentient life.
Veganism is no longer considered, as was once commonly claimed, a mere "personal
choice." In Rukin's words: "it's never just a personal choice when there's a
victim." Still, being vegan does not suffice for activists like Natasha & Luca,
who come to understand that, in addition to diet, "The victim would want us to
actively intervene."

At the same time, we need to understand our audience. Vegan activist Gwenna
Hunter reminds us that people of color, for example, may resist our starting out
cold with "animals are suffering." White people have told them "you're lower
than animals," and as one man challenges Hunter at a vegan lifestyle event,
"Sister, you're out here telling people not to eat animals, but what are you
doing for our black community? Black men are being shot in the streets." This is
why, she says, "when speaking with communities of color, I always start my
conversations with health and self-love." She reminds us that for some people,
and especially for those who are struggling, "eating is the only simple pleasure
they have in life." We cannot come across as if we are telling them, "I don't
want you to have this pleasure."


In Defense of Animal Sanctuaries

Our Hen House cofounder and Senior Features Editor for VegNews, Jasmin Singer,
extols "the magical powers of storytelling." Storytelling allows others to
listen without feeling judged or being lectured to, while still being
passionately urged to care about animals. In telling their stories, activists
are also telling the stories of the animals whose own "trauma of an extinguished
self" includes instances of recovery in a sanctuary, as when a chimpanzee named
Joe, caged in an Alabama zoo for 14 years, starts climbing and swinging -
"quintessential chimpanzee behavior," says attorney Brittany Peet of PETA - as
soon as he is set free in his new home.

Animal sanctuaries are defended against criticism, voiced by some who insist
that resources would be better spent handing out leaflets or engaging in some
other form of activism. Kathy Stevens, founder of Catskill Animal Sanctuary in
upstate New York, counters: "To believe that we can usher in a vegan world
without providing people the opportunity to know pigs and cows and chickens is
like believing that the LGBTQ movement could have succeeded if none of us knew
any gay people. . . . Further, let's not say that as we're marching toward our
shared and glorious vision of a world free from suffering, that it's okay to
sacrifice those we could save in order to produce more leaflets."


Bearing Witness

In keeping with this view, Anita Krajnc, founder of the Save Movement and armed
with the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy's call to bear witness, defines her strategy
as "the moral duty and obligation of society to collectively bear witness and
recognize the individuality of every animal, their desire and right to live a
natural life, and our corresponding duty to help them. . . . The concept of
bearing witness creates the opportunity to get closest to the animal standpoint,
which generates the most empathy, compassion, and action. We absorb a small
fraction of the animals' pain and learn a tiny bit of their story, which we
share with others to help them wake up to this reality."

In my own contribution to the book, I describe how back in the 1970s I responded
to Tolstoy's concept of nonviolence in his essay "The First Step" by not wanting
to continue eating meat, a practice I hadn't thought about before. But it was
Tolstoy's piteous description of cows and lambs in the Moscow slaughterhouse he
visited that caused me to stop eating animals immediately, confronted with the
reality of what "meat" really meant.

Life-changing encounters with specific animals include pledges to them to fight
for them from that moment on. Such pledges are made in moments of misery, as
Jill Robinson, founder of Animals Asia, describes her encounter with a female
moon bear she named Hong in a cellar of hell at a bile-extraction farm in China.
These moments will affect some readers more deeply than conceptual analysis
alone can do, although empathy and analysis reinforce each other and enrich this
book. Amy Jean Davis, founder of Los Angeles Animal Save, writes:

I still remember the moment I first looked inside a transport truck full of
baby pigs. Their skin was colored so softly and delicately, and they were
looking at me with wide, terrified blue eyes. They looked like big pink dogs,
crammed on top of one another, scared and confused. It felt like lightening
hitting the center of my chest, as if my heart might burst from the sadness
and helplessness I felt all at once. . . . To be free to walk back to my
vehicle and drive home to a soft, cool bed without someone dragging me to a
gas chamber. It's a moment I will never forget.

Alex Bez of Amazing Vegan Outreach recalls his moment of meeting cows who were
about to die: "As the truck rolled to a stop, I tentatively approached the side.
Peering through the small holes in the metal walls, I saw gentle, furry giants
staring back at me. Each of their breaths pushed small clouds of vapor out of
their nostrils into the cold air. Their heads swayed back and forth, trying to
see what was happening outside."

Former investigator of farms and slaughterhouses, Matthew Braun, describes an
incident in a chicken slaughterhouse. "I watched as the first chicken to reach
the conveyor stood up, spread her wings, and ran. . . . She did not look scared
like you might expect. In fact, she looked happy as she ran toward me. Maybe she
thought that she was finally going to be free. Her happiness was short-lived,
because I had to reach out, grab her by the leg, and hang her upside down in a
shackle. I think about her often, and sometimes it brings me to tears. When
people eat animals around me, I am reminded that somebody ate her, too."


Dealing With Demons

"Considering a baby's experience - just wanting her mother, but getting the
rough hands of workers taking her to her death instead - how can this be the
world I live in?" - Amy Jean Davis, founder of Los Angeles Animal Save

"If our destruction of the natural world, the animals, and each other persists,
then obviously we are dealing with a very unsympathetic entity - ourselves." -
Shaun Monson, documentary filmmaker of Earthlings and Unity

The apathy of human society toward animals and nature, while it may be
lessening, is an omnipresent reality that requires a daily renewal of commitment
and a constant battle against despair. A unifying theme among the 25 voices
presented in this book is the personal stamina that being part of a global
animal activist community brings. In her riveting account of an open rescue of
caged hens in 2015 sponsored by Direct Action Everywhere, Zoe Rosenberg, founder
of Happy Hen Animal Sanctuary, describes stepping out of a battery-cage building
where "We had no idea what would be waiting for us outside." Then, "I looked up
and saw hundreds of activists gathered by the other entrance."

This experience can stand as a metaphor for the strengthening sense of purpose,
relief, and gratitude that the camaraderie of our shared commitment to animals
and animal liberation provides. We help each other and the animals by holding
strong together. Inside each of us, a river of sadness runs; a perceptual
conflict seethes. Teacher and writer Brittany Michelson, who created this
powerful book, conveys our shared experience: "When I see someone excited over
pizza or ice cream, I think of the calves stuck in those hutches, peering out
with wide eyes, and the long low moaning reverberating across the farm. It is
visuals like these that haunt me and anger me, yet also ignite my activism to
greater heights."

Voices for Animal Liberation simultaneously comforts and inspires us with the
knowledge that we are not alone with our demons. As individuals we can
contribute to the growing power of animal liberation activism around the world.
Saengduean Lek Chailert, founder of Save Elephant Foundation in Southeast Asia,
writes: "I am asked why I rescue the old elephant. The images of suffering
should speak for themselves, yet my answer is quite simple. It is about respect.
To protect them is a high calling. By doing so, we also protect and strengthen
our own hearts. . . . We rescue in order to honor them, to offer a moment of
respect in a tragic life." The rescue of a solitary animal does not solve the
overwhelming problems, she admits, but to the one being rescued and the rescuer,
it "means everything."


Here are links to where the book can be purchased.

Amazon:
[link removed]

Skyhorse Publishing:
[link removed]

Barnes & Noble:
[link removed]


KAREN DAVIS, PhD is the President and Founder of United Poultry Concerns, a
nonprofit organization that promotes the compassionate and respectful treatment
of domestic fowl including a sanctuary for chickens in Virginia. Inducted into
the National Animal Rights Hall of Fame for Outstanding Contributions to Animal
Liberation, Karen is the author of numerous books, essays, articles and
campaigns. Her latest book is For the Birds: From Exploitation to Liberation:
Essays on Chickens, Turkeys, and Other Domesticated Fowl (Lantern Books, 2019).

--
United Poultry Concerns is a nonprofit organization that promotes
the compassionate and respectful treatment of domestic fowl.
Don't just switch from beef to chicken. Go Vegan.
[link removed] [link removed]
[link removed]

View this article online
[link removed]

Forward email
[link removed]





This email was sent to [email protected] by [email protected].

Update Profile/Email Address
[link removed]


Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe(TM)
[link removed]


Privacy Policy:
[link removed]





Online Marketing by
Constant Contact(R)
www.constantcontact.com



United Poultry Concerns | PO Box 150 | Machipongo | VA | 23405